Transcendental Worldview: Living Harmonious with Nature

The word, ecology, environment friendly has started to be popular these days. This makes me wonder: Wasn’t
ancient India an ecofriendly nation? The Indian Culture that always considered nature as ‘Mother’ is now present
only in our ancient texts and not our current way of living. What made us drift away from our own culture and
adapt to western practices? Modern day education in India made us fit in the rat race that the world was in. We
began to achieve great heights but at the cost of exploiting nature. Today Indian cities are one of most polluted
cities in the world.
Art was one of the ways in which strong philosophies were made easier to under to common people. Classical
Indian art forms are deep and integral with essence of life. They are the agents that connect the inner world and
the feeling of existence of the performer with a realm of positive outlook, focusing on the benefits and leading to
spirituality. This transcendental nature of theirs often is seen making the art forms related to puranas and making
these relevant to the context of present world is something very usual. The philosophical attributes of these art
forms lead us to the understanding of almost all values of human life, such as giving honour to ancestors, stature
of culture, gift of appreciation and fulfilment with material possessions, and care of nature.
The Indian classical dances can be regarded as a great illustration of these characters. If a complete dance recital
is presented, the individual will be enclosed in the wonderful atmosphere, one may claim, that sometimes life
becomes unbelievably beautiful in such a way that the dancer or spectator can no longer be differentiated. In such
dances, mostly, the idea of nature as Mother is evident and one can find a lot of references to this concept.
The Bharatanatyam repertoire, usually, shows nature in the sequences. Nature and scenes of nature become
subjects of Sanchari sections in the Varmans. This one is doable in the Varmans belonging to the Shringara Rasa,
where the Virahotkanthita nayika witnesses’ nature harmoniously and remembers the past union with her lover.
Warli painting is a tribal art from the North Sahyadri Ranges in Maharashtra, India. This tribal art was originated
in Maharashtra, where it is still practiced today. The Warli painting tradition in Maharashtra are among the finest
examples of the folk style of paintings. The Warli tribe is one of the largest in India, located outside Mumbai. The
Warli culture is centred on the concept of Mother Nature and elements of nature are often focal points depicted
in Warli painting. Farming is their main way of life and a large source of food for the tribe. They greatly respect
nature and wildlife for the resources that they provide for life. Warli artists use their clay huts as the backdrop for
their paintings, similar to how ancient people used caves as their canvases.
Madhubani (also Mithila art) is a style of painting practiced in the Mithila region of India and Nepal. It is named
after the Madhubani district of Bihar, India, which is where it originated. Artists create these paintings using a
variety of mediums, including their own fingers, or twigs, brushes, nib-pens, and matchsticks. The paint is created
using natural dyes and pigments. The paintings are characterised by their eye-catching geometrical patterns. The
paintings were traditionally done on freshly plastered mud walls and floors of huts, but now they are also done
on cloth, handmade paper and canvas.
Madhubani paintings are made from the paste of powdered rice. Traditionally colours derived from nature
: vermilion powder mixed with grounded mustard seeds for red, cow dung mixed with lampblack for greenish
black, rice paste for white, Pevdi for lemon yellow, turmeric for yellow ochre, Indigo for blue and red
clay for Indian red. Gum Arabic or goat's milk formed the paint's binder, gum Arabic used for painting on paper
and goat's milk used mainly for wall paintings.
The cities of the ancient Indus were noted for their urban planning, baked brick houses,
elaborate drainage systems, water supply systems, clusters of large non-residential buildings, and techniques of
handicraft and metallurgy. Mohenjo-Daro and Harappa very likely grew to contain between 30,000 and 60,000
individuals, and the civilisation may have contained between one and five million individuals during its
florescence.
From art and culture to urban planning, ancient India proved itself to be one of the best examples to use its natural
resources efficiently and without disturbing the balance of nature. Our day-to-day life always had a balanced way
of living until India joined the capitalist economy of the world at the cost of nature. Increasing calamities in India
should make us re think our way of living. The choices that we make in our day-to-day life must be thought
consciously and respect nature as we respect ourselves. Nature needs rest!!

- ANNA ROSE FRANCIS

3RD YEAR B.Arch.
Roll no: 21104